Summer Spots

It is hard anticipating where the fish will be for the early morning topwater bite, and if thats not enough, try and locate where they go from top water down to 20 feet of water. It’s no easy task. We fished this morning and didn’t get a bite until 9:30. Now take into account that the high today in north Georgia was 97. After 9:30, the blistering sun on the lake is the last place I care to be. However, I do like to catch fish and also have a hard time leaving the fish when they start to bite. We didn’t have a fish early and then landed 6 keepers in 45 minutes on the same rock wall. We finally figured out why.

  These fish were on top early and it takes until about 10 AM before they move back down deep which is suitable for a finesse worm. When the sun gets up and heats the surface temperature up enough, the fish will go back deep on the bottom. We noticed on the graph that the fish were consistantly showing up deeper and deeper until finally they were holding to the bottom. People throw crank baits at these fish all morning long, and we did also, but with no consistancy. It’s random at best. We fish allot of rock so it works really well for the worm bite.

 Here is a trick I learned for fishing rock with a Texas Rig worm. Take a toothpick and slide it inside your bullet weight to make it tight on your line. This will help with hang ups. It won’t allow your weight to fall into the crevices of the rock as you jig the worm along the bottom. Also, use trick worms or floating worms on the Texas Rig. This is the first year we have done this and what it does is cause the worm to float up with the bullet weight on the bottom. It makes the worm stand up so to speak. It works well when fish are finicky in the summertime. I know several fishermen that avoid the big chunk rock and slag rock due to getting hung up so much. If you fish rock walls, give this method a try. It works.

Trapped? In August?

  When I think of fishing a Rattle Trap, I think of springtime mornings over the top of budding grass beds. I never really think of fishing a trap in the middle of the dog days of summer. Go with what works, I say, and don’t be afraid to take a chance on a new possibility.

  We unloaded the boat at Carters Lake and launched well before daylight and made our way to the first shoal marked with numerous bouey markers. We threw some various cranbaits off the edges of the shoals of rock with no luck. Fish were blowing up all around us on the shoals, but never really got on them too good. Actually, we didn’t get on them at all.

  Daylight came and we motored to the next cluster of bouey markers and shoals of rock. This time we decided to try another trick that worked back in May. I tied on a trap and Zack, which is pictured with my fish, tied on a worm. I made a few casts and hooked up on a nice three pound spot. Two casts later, another spot. This time, it was a four pound spot. We fished it out with no more bites, but what a nice start to on good sack of fish. We fished on and caught another good spot on a Deep Little N and Zack added a three pound chunk of his own on a trick worm.

  We ended the day with seven keepers caught in depths from 3-25 feet deep. Be as versitile as you can in August. It may just work out that the last three months of patterns comes back into play.